Richmond council committee debates purpose of stadium vote

City of Richmond:

“A Richmond City Council resolution on the Shockoe Bottom baseball stadium plan cleared another committee Thursday, but a debate that ended without unanimity offered a preview of what may be in store when the full council considers the plan next week. The council’s finance and economic development committee advanced a resolution seeking council support for ‘continued negotiations’ on the Shockoe plan.

The administration of Mayor Dwight C. Jones has said the resolution, which is on the agenda for Monday’s council meeting, will allow it to firm up the details of various agreements among the Richmond Economic Development Authority, the developers and the Richmond Flying Squirrels before bringing the deals back for council approval in late March or early April. Though the three-member panel didn’t forward the measure with an official recommendation, Councilwomen Kathy C. Graziano, 4th District, and Ellen F. Robertson, 6th District, voiced favorable opinions, saying it would give the council the information it needs to make a final decision.”

~Writes Graham Moomaw of the Richmond Times-Dispatch

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High-rise living in Tysons has arrived

Fairfax County:

“Developers of new Tysons Corner apartment high-rises have begun marketing the cool features of their new buildings: soaring views, rooftop pools, floor-to-ceiling windows, quartz counter tops, fire pits, pet grooming services, a bocce court and 24-hour concierge services. They are pitching the buildings as a chance for luxury urban living. And they are charging like it too.

Leasing agents at three of the new buildings are frequently asking $3 per square foot or more per month for the new units, rents on par with new buildings in Clarendon and Ballston, some of the most popular neighborhoods for renters in the region.”

~ Writes Jonathan O'Connell of the Washington Post

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Virginia Beach arena would use only private money

Virginia Beach:

“A team of businesses behind some of the most successful sports complexes in the country - including the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the Pepsi Center in Denver - proposed Monday to build an 18,000-seat arena in Virginia Beach and pay for it themselves. Their plan emphasizes what developers call the need for a major concert venue in Virginia to lure top musical acts, national political conventions and events such as the Ice Capades and NCAA tournament basketball. Project officials said the $200 million arena would be paid for entirely with private money, mostly from a Chinese construction giant, and would require no taxpayer funding.

The ESG Cos. of Virginia Beach is at the center of the plan, presented as a counterproposal to one initiated in November by construction firm W.M. Jordan Co., which involves Beach developer Bruce Thompson as a consultant. Both proposals would build on city-owned land near the Convention Center, and both would need major infrastructure improvements by the city.

Last year, an attempt to lure the NBA's Sacramento Kings to Virginia Beach fizzled when the state legislature refused to spend $150 million of public money to finance the arena. Virginia Beach spent nearly $1 million for consultants and public relations.”

~ Writes John Holland of The Virginian-Pilot

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Developer Seeks to Build 100-Room Hotel Near Water Country

York County:

“The Marquis at Williamsburg in Upper York County could soon have a 100-room hotel. The York County Board of Supervisors will consider Tuesday whether to amend the conditions of a previously approved special-use permit, which would allow the construction of the hotel to move forward. The board originally approved the construction of a 71,000-square-foot hotel at the site in 2007. The new proposal seeks an 85,000-square-foot hotel.

The hotel is the latest development for the once-stalled shopping center, located off Route 199 near Water Country USA. The Marquis is split into two pods — the north pod has five stores already in place and will receive an additional 200,000 square feet of commercial space, while development of 650 residential units in the south pod, which is currently undeveloped, was recently OK’d by the supervisors. Because the hotel would lead to an increase in floor area at the site between 5 percent and 25 percent, a public hearing is not necessary for the proposal. The supervisors will consider it under new business at their Tuesday meeting.”

~Writes Gregory Connolly of the Williamsburg Yorktown Daily

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Chancellorsville battlefield eyed for subdivision

Spotsylvania County:

“The Silver Cos. is proposing a 249-home subdivision on part of the Chancellorsville battlefield in Spotsylvania County. Tonight, the developer plans to hold a community meeting at St. Michael the Archangel High School in Spotsylvania about its project.

Chancellorsville Investment Co. LLC is applying to rezone 1,152 acres that border Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on the north side of State Route 3. The Binns Tract is just east of Black Meadow Road, west of Golden Oaks Drive, and south of Flint Hill Court and Hunting Run Reservoir. The land lies between the reservoir and the park… Some 44 acres of the property lie within the national park’s congressional designated boundary, land that Congress said ought to be incorporated into it if the National Park Service can acquire the property.”

~Writes Clint Schemmer of The Free Lance–Star

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Rezoning granted for new construction slated for Langston Park

City of Hopewell:

“An amendment to the zoning of the Langston Park Public Housing Development was granted by City Council Tuesday, amid questions and hesitations from some councilors about a plan to revitalize the development. Community Housing Partners, plans to demolish the 52-year-old development in favor of building energy efficient mixed-income units. CHP is a nonprofit organization that works with public and private partners to provide energy efficient and quality affordable housing.

The current 30-unit development will be replaced by 56 units, 26 of which will be rented at market rate. Thirty of the units will be under the Section 8 voucher program. Construction of the apartments is slated to cost about $9.5 million. CHP has acquired all of the funding for the project, which includes state and federal tax credits, grants and private investment.

The area is currently zoned R-4, but is slated to become a Planned Unit Development following Tuesday's decision. During a Council work session last month, developers stated that the new designation would allow more open space, and be landscaped into a safer, more well lit environment.”

~Writes Leah Small of Progress-Index

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The Village at Chicago Park is a go

City of Harrisonburg:

“Harrisonburg City Council on Tuesday night unanimously approved the project proposed at 1041 and 1049 Chicago Ave., near Mount Clinton Pike. The property owners, Theda and Merle Brunk of Dayton and John Harding of Clemson, S.C., sought to rezone the 2-acre residential parcel to a relatively new residential classification, R-7, that offers more flexibility with zoning regulations and requires a minimum of 15 percent open or green space.

Fifteen single-family and duplex homes are proposed, ranging in size from 1,500 to 2,100 square feet. A new private street, Saturday Drive, will offer access into the development. Councilman Richard Baugh said the project offers a ‘good balance for density,’ as opposed to ‘cramming’ as much as possible on the site. Stacy Turner, the director of the Harrisonburg Department of Planning and Community Development, said city staff endorsed the idea because it’s smaller in scope.

Last year, council approved the same R-7 zoning classification for Collicello North, a 30-unit development planned on the northern part of Collicello Street. Both developments are designed to be environmentally friendly and promote walking and biking.”

~ Writes Preston Knight of DNR Online

Site of razed Virginia Beach shopping center sold

Virginia Beach:

“The site of a former shopping center near the Sentara Independence outpatient treatment facility has been sold to a Virginia Beach developer. An entity controlled by developer Michael Sifen paid about $9 million for the 13.5-acre site at 717-745 Independence Blvd., according to deed records filed at the Beach.

The seller, a unit of Lowe's Cos. Inc., paid $13.5 million for the site in 2007 and demolished a shopping center there in preparation for a new home improvement store. The former Giant Square center had been anchored by a Farm Fresh grocery up until about a year before Lowe's took possession.

When the economy soured, Lowe's greatly scaled back its expansion plans and shelved the store project, said Gerald S. Divaris, CEO of Divaris Real Estate, which represented Lowe's in the recent sale.”

~ Writes Dave Mayfield of The Virginian-Pilot

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JBG Closes New Joint Venture With STRS Ohio

Arlington County:

“The JBG Companies has closed on a new joint venture partnership with the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio to develop Central Place in Rosslyn, Va. Central Place, between North Lynn and North Moore streets in Arlington County, is located adjacent to the Rosslyn Metro station. It is a 31-story, mixed-use development that will feature 377 impeccably-designed residences, 25,230 square feet of retail space and a 15,000-square-foot public plaza.

At 355 feet tall, Central Place will be a striking addition to the Virginia skyline and offer some of the most spectacular views available of the nation’s capital. It will be the tallest building in JBG’s development portfolio. ‘Central Place is a great addition to JBG’s place-making work in Arlington County, and we are very pleased to be partnering with a very well-respected institutional investor in STRS Ohio,’ said Andrew VanHorn, a JBG Senior Vice President. This is JBG’s first joint venture with STRS Ohio.

Site preparation work is underway, and construction is expected to begin in earnest in a few months. Central Place is one of JBG’s many mixed-use developments in Arlington since Sedona Slate, which delivered in April 2013.”

~Writes Alexandria News

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Loudoun's Equinox Investments may rezone itself

Loudoun County:

“Equinox Investments LLC is bidding to rezone itself. The Loudoun developer, based at 43571 John Mosby Highway, is in talks with the county to rezone its headquarters property for 77 townhomes, 128 multi-family units and business uses, likely retail or commercial. The 21.5-acre parcel, a combination of vacant land and the 20,000-square-foot Equinox headquarters building that fronts Route 50, is located just west of East Gate, a 330-acre mixed-use project that Equinox helped develop with Baltimore-based Atapco Properties.

It is also 1 mile west of the proposed Sheraton Dulles South and related Fox Gate development, a pair of stalled projects that may have some life in them, as I reported Wednesday.”

~Writes Michael Neibauer of the Washington Business Jounral

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Muslim Community Center Addition Approved Despite Controversy

Loudoun County:

“The Board of Supervisors Wednesday night authorized an expansion of the previously approved Muslim Community Center of Leesburg over the objections of a bloc of public speakers who raised concerns about the facility. More than 20 people came before the board to speak about the center, most of them urging denial. The application before the board was to amend the previously approved community center plan to permit an addition of approximately 430 square feet and add 46 parking spaces.

Speakers cited concerns about traffic and parking on the site, saying the facility’s operations would clog Sycolin Road and require overflow parking at the county’s nearby park and ride lot. ‘Wait until the commuters cannot use the park and ride because it is being used by the Muslim center,’ Mackie Christinson told supervisors. ‘Then you’ll really get lots of phone calls and lots of emails.’

But supporters of the center noted the peak use of the mosque would be Fridays around lunch and early mornings, times when there is not a lot of traffic on the roads and when the park and ride lot is already being used by commuters.”

~Writes Erika Jacobson Moore of the Leesburg Today

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Gloucester Point condo proposal subject of public hearing

Gloucester County:

“The Gloucester County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at 7:30 tonight in the colonial courthouse to receive comments on a rezoning application that would allow construction of 50 condominium units at Gloucester Point. Moody Homes Holdings Corporation is the current property owner, said planner Tripp Little. The site is located in the Gloucester Point Magisterial District on the west side of George Washington Memorial Highway (Route 17), across from the Gloucester Point Shopping Center.

Little said Moody Homes has applied to amend the Gloucester County zoning map to reclassify approximately 11.09 acres from MF-1 conditional (Medium-density multi-family residential) to a similar zoning designation that would allow switching the format of the project. Moody Homes now wants to utilize a condominium form of ownership for the 50 units without any age restrictions, rather than the same number of units sold as duplexes with fee-simple development proposed to be built by another developer who never built anything on that site.

The Gloucester County Board of Supervisors will have the final say on the rezoning request and will schedule a hearing on the matter later. Little said that board approved an age-restricted project for adults 55 and older called Magnolia Point for that property in January 2005 for applicant K&S Land Holding. Magnolia Point was never built, Little said, but part of a road leading into the project was completed as well as a pumping station that has never been brought on line.”

 ~Writes Bill Nachman of Gazette-Journal

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Supervisors deny Greens South at Willowsford rezoning

Loudon County:

“The Loudoun Board of Supervisors rejected Wednesday night a portion of the Willowsford development group's plans to increase residential housing on the sprawling southern Loudoun community's grounds. Owners of The Greens South at Willowsford submitted a rezoning application last year to build an additional 557 single-family detached residential units, increasing the development potential from 245 to 802 units.

The board's denial for the rezoning was in line with the recommendation from county staff, which noted in a report ‘the county’s budgetary plans have neither anticipated nor programmed additional school capacity, public facilities and transportation infrastructure necessary to serve the proposed additional 557 single-family detached residential units.’ Additionally, the property, located west of Lightridge Farm Road and south of Braddock Road, falls within the Upper Foley Sub-area of Transition Policy, which serves as a ‘visual and spatial transition between the Suburban Policy Area to the east and Rural Policy Area to the west,’ according to staff.

Supervisor Janet Clarke (R-Blue Ridge), who represents the Willowsford community, voted for the denial, noting the costs associated with bringing new residents and families – an estimated 1,800 people -- to the prospective new units. Supervisor Ralph Buona (R-Ashburn), chairman of the board's finance committee, said approval of the Willowsford application could set a precedent the county isn't ready for.”

~Writes Trevor Baratko of the Loudoun Times

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Beach council members critical of outlet mall plan

Virginia Beach:

“Norfolk gets a brand-new outlet mall, hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue. Virginia Beach gets a parking lot, a retention pond and potential traffic woes, a group of disgruntled Virginia Beach City Council members said Tuesday. And there's the rub. Elected officials showed no willingness to help Norfolk meet a rushed deadline to begin construction on Simon Premium Outlets by this summer, with one calling it a ‘fantasy schedule.’ The 90-store outlet mall would straddle the city line but would mostly be in Norfolk.

Beach council members and the vice mayor raised questions about changes to roads and traffic lights, the impact on the Burton Station neighborhood and other issues, saying the proposal has few benefits for Virginia Beach residents. Barry Frankenfield, Virginia Beach's director of strategic growth, on Tuesday gave the council an overview of the proposal, which calls for the closure of Lake Wright Golf Course and necessitates changes in Burton Station, a historic neighborhood. He had the unenviable task of presenting Norfolk's grand plans to the Beach council members, who peppered him with both questions and statements.”

~Writes John Holland of the Virginia Pilot

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Age-restricted apartments proposed in Bealeton

Fauquier County

“Fauquier’s planning commission last week recommended approval of a rezoning for construction of 100 age-restricted apartments in Bealeton. The commissioners Jan. 30 voted, 5-0, to support amendment of the April 2012 rezoning for Mintbrook, a mixed-use development along Routes 17 and 28.

The board of supervisors almost two years ago voted, 3-2, to approve the development of 475 dwellings and 220,000 square feet of commercial space on the 332-acre site. That original approval contemplated multifamily housing at Mintbrook. But, it required separate review of what would happen on the 8.6-acre parcel where Chantilly-based Mintbrook Developers LLC and the South-Carolina-based Humanities Foundation propose the apartments. The developer also needed separate approval for as much as 125,000 square feet of “future” commercial development.

Mintbook has reduced that total to 39,000 square feet, a proposal the planning commission also endorsed last week. With the changes, Mintbrook would have approval for 575 dwellings and 265,000 square feet of commercial space.”

~Writes Fauquier Now

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CBJ: New CFA Institute location encourages interaction, community vibrance

City of Charlottesville

“After decades of service as a well-known health care facility, the former Martha Jefferson Hospital, a prominent Charlottesville property that’s been redeveloped, will see more changes in the coming year. The CFA Institute, a global association of investment professionals, moved to the former Martha Jefferson Hospital in December. Finishing touches on the organization’s 144,000-square-foot space, which serves as a global operations center, is expected to be completed within the next two weeks.

The former emergency room area has been transformed into the CFA’s main entrance, complete with large digital financial tickers that display up-to-the-minute data. Downstairs, there’s a conference center that can be divided into five separate meeting spaces. And just off the main entrance, a central stairwell, brightly illuminated with natural light, runs from the building’s top floor to the ground floor.”

~Writes Nate Delesline III of the Daily Progress

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Wegmans gets nod from Architectural Review Board

Albemarle County

“Wegmans Food Markets plans to break ground on a new store in Albemarle County this fall. As shoppers on the south side of Charlottesville and southern Albemarle wait for the grocery store’s expected 2015 opening, the county’s Architectural Review Board has worked to minimize its visibility… The board is limited to design issues visible in county’s entrance corridors. ‘There was an attorney present [at the last meeting],’ said board member Marcia Joseph. ‘The attorney made sure that we discussed only things that were visible.’

The store is the first phase of the Fifth Street Station development, which includes a connector road joining Avon Street Extended in the county and Fifth Street Southwest near Charlottesville’s Willoughby neighborhood. Wardell and the other board members worked within their purview to ensure the store will be largely hidden from drivers on Interstate 64. The area and neighboring roads are designated entrance corridors where buildings receive greater design review.”

~Writes Effie Nicholaou of Charlottesville Tomorrow

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